1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a program guide providing system, a program guide providing apparatus, a program guide providing method, and a program guide providing program, which are suitably applied, for example, to the case where a program guide in which programs are rated or ordered is provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
In existing Internet protocol (IP) network environments, typified by the Internet, no service has been offered of delivering a program guide or the like that allows users to search for a variety of media services in a unified manner. Such program guides or the like have been provided independently for each service. In the field of current terrestrial TV, view survey instruments are provided to a sample of viewers, and based on the view survey instruments, audience ratings are calculated individually.
In some techniques (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-344196, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document), logs of usage of the Internet by users who have made a contract with an information storage site are acquired and managed in a centralized manner by the information storage site/server, and when a user terminal of each of the registered users accesses a Web site/server, information about the terminal transmitted to the Web site/server is transmitted to the information storage site/server, and history information is generated on a registered user basis, or alternatively, the user terminal of each of the registered users accesses the Web site via the information storage site so that an access log of the registered user is acquired by the information storage site/server.
In recent years, a move has been increasingly active toward construction of a next generation network (NGN) by replacing a conventional circuit switching telephone network with an Internet protocol (IP)-based network. The NGN has a band securing feature and a security feature, and performs session control using the session initiation protocol (SIP). The NGN allows not only a unidirectional delivery of contents such as videos but also two-way video communication and related services such as a chat service. Thus, the NGN is capable of providing a variety of content services beyond the limits of traditional viewing or listening-only broadcasting.